Texas 2025 - 89th Regular

Texas Senate Bill SB561 Compare Versions

Only one version of the bill is available at this time.

Old	New	Differences
1	1	89R4421 KRM-F
2	2	By: Eckhardt, et al. S.B. No. 561
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7	7	A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
8	8	AN ACT
9	9	relating to the creation of the Office of Environmental Justice
10	10	within the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality.
11	11	BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
12	12	SECTION 1. Chapter 5, Water Code, is amended by adding
13	13	Subchapter G-1 to read as follows:
14	14	SUBCHAPTER G-1. OFFICE OF ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE
15	15	Sec. 5.291. DEFINITIONS. In this subchapter:
16	16	(1) "Environmental justice community" means a United
17	17	States census block group, as determined in accordance with the
18	18	most recent United States census, for which:
19	19	(A) 30 percent or more of the
20	20	noninstitutionalized population consists of persons who have an
21	21	income below 200 percent of the federal poverty level; or
22	22	(B) 50 percent or more of the population consists
23	23	of members of racial minority or ethnic minority groups.
24	24	(2) "Office" means the Office of Environmental
25	25	Justice.
26	26	(3) "Permit" has the meaning assigned by Section
27	27	5.752. The term includes an original permit, permit renewal, or
28	28	permit amendment.
29	29	(4) "Permitted facility" means a facility required to
30	30	obtain a permit under:
31	31	(A) Chapter 361, Health and Safety Code;
32	32	(B) Chapter 382, Health and Safety Code; or
33	33	(C) Chapter 26 or 27 of this code.
34	34	Sec. 5.292. CREATION AND GENERAL RESPONSIBILITY OF OFFICE
35	35	OF ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE. The Office of Environmental Justice is
36	36	created within the commission to protect the public health, general
37	37	welfare, and physical property of environmental justice
38	38	communities in regard to the issuance of permits.
39	39	Sec. 5.293. RECOMMENDATION ON PERMIT. (a) In this section,
40	40	"affected environmental justice community" means an environmental
41	41	justice community within three miles of a proposed or existing
42	42	permitted facility.
43	43	(b) This section applies only to an application for a permit
44	44	related to a proposed or existing permitted facility located within
45	45	three miles of an environmental justice community.
46	46	(c) The office shall provide a recommendation to the
47	47	commission on whether a permit should be issued. In making the
48	48	recommendation, the office shall consider:
49	49	(1) whether the cumulative effects of pollution from
50	50	the proposed permitted facility or change to an existing facility
51	51	on the affected environmental justice community exceed the
52	52	statewide average; and
53	53	(2) any existing or anticipated vulnerabilities in the
54	54	affected environmental justice community, including:
55	55	(A) existing pollution levels in the affected
56	56	environmental justice community and exposure of the residents of
57	57	that community to those pollutants;
58	58	(B) limited access to health care by residents of
59	59	the affected environmental justice community;
60	60	(C) health factors of the residents of the
61	61	affected environmental justice community, including the prevalence
62	62	of:
63	63	(i) asthma and other respiratory diseases;
64	64	and
65	65	(ii) cancer; and
66	66	(D) proximity of the proposed permitted facility
67	67	to locations where children and elderly and medically vulnerable
68	68	people commonly gather, including:
69	69	(i) single or multifamily residences;
70	70	(ii) schools;
71	71	(iii) places of worship;
72	72	(iv) day-care centers; and
73	73	(v) hospitals or other medical facilities.
74	74	(d) The office shall provide the recommendation described
75	75	by this section not later than the seventh day after the last day of
76	76	the public comment period applicable to the permit.
77	77	Sec. 5.294. CONSIDERATION OF RECOMMENDATION BY COMMISSION.
78	78	In addition to other factors required by law, the commission shall
79	79	consider the recommendation of the office in making a determination
80	80	about whether to issue a permit to which Section 5.293 applies.
81	81	Sec. 5.295. STAFF; OUTSIDE TECHNICAL SUPPORT. (a) The
82	82	office shall be adequately staffed to carry out its functions under
83	83	this subchapter.
84	84	(b) The office may obtain and use outside technical support
85	85	to carry out its functions under this subchapter.
86	86	SECTION 2. (a) Section 5.293, Water Code, as added by this
87	87	Act, applies only to an application for a permit, permit renewal, or
88	88	permit amendment submitted to the Texas Commission on Environmental
89	89	Quality on or after the effective date of this Act. An application
90	90	for a permit, permit renewal, or permit amendment submitted to the
91	91	Texas Commission on Environmental Quality before the effective date
92	92	of this Act is governed by the law in effect at the time the
93	93	application was submitted, and the former law is continued in
94	94	effect for that purpose.
95	95	(b) The Office of Environmental Justice within the Texas
96	96	Commission on Environmental Quality, as created by this Act, is not
97	97	required to issue a recommendation under Section 5.293, Water Code,
98	98	as added by this Act, before January 1, 2026.
99	99	SECTION 3. This Act takes effect September 1, 2025.